Not all businesses are downtown

Laura Estes has been an avid quilter since the early 1980s. Because she couldn't always find what she wanted in applique quilt patterns, she began designing her own quilts. One thing lead to another and Laura's Sage Country Quilts became an official business in 1994.

The company started with three designs and increased to nine by the fall of 1995 when Estes and her husband, Pat, attended their first International Quilt Market in Houston, Texas. With the addition of new patterns each year, there are currently forty five designs in the line, as well as a Block of the Month series. About a year a...